The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
37°F
Current Conditions
Few clouds
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Historic fighter jet retires at Tillamook Air Museum

Hundreds gathered at the Tillamook Air Museum on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025 to get a close-up look at an AV-8B II Harrier jet. The aircraft is being demilitarized and prepared for permanent exhibition at the coastal air museum. (Sean Meagher)
Hundreds gathered at the Tillamook Air Museum on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025 to get a close-up look at an AV-8B II Harrier jet. The aircraft is being demilitarized and prepared for permanent exhibition at the coastal air museum. (Sean Meagher)
By Sean Meagher The Oregonian

The Tillamook Air Museum welcomed a new addition on Monday, when an AV-8B II Harrier jet made its final descent into the coastal Oregon town in front of hundreds of aviation enthusiasts.

Pilot James Coppersmith flew the Harrier from the Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake located in California’s Mojave Desert, roughly 650 miles to Tillamook. Coppersmith made multiple flyovers upon arrival, putting on a show for those in attendance and burning off excess fuel in the process.

The aircraft — which has logged 5,518 total flight hours, including 631 combat hours flown across 88 missions and completed 5,457 landings over its 30-year career — will be demilitarized and prepared for permanent exhibition at the Tillamook Air Museum.

“This aircraft is as capable as they’ve ever been,” said Coppersmith, a 24-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps, “and today was its last flight ever. It seems kind of sad but at the same time, you know, a great museum, a great community’s getting a forever jet.

“We found a good home for 82.”

The Harrier jet, known as “82,” is being provided on long-term loan by the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.

Harrier jets were a fixture of 1980s and ’90s pop culture, featured in movies, TV shows and video games. The AV-8B Harrier II was featured in 1994 film “True Lies” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Originally delivered to the United States Marine Corps on March 30, 1995, the jet was flown in operations in Iraq and Syria, and was used in roles in Singapore, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania and the Arabian Gulf.